Computer users seeking access to information over the Internet or other data communications network typically encountered difficulties getting the desired information unless the user were able to connect the computer to a data communications network using a fixed, wireline connection. More recently, however, a clear trend in information technology has emerged, that of wireless connectivity. Wireless connectivity not only relieves computer users of the need for fixed wireline connections, but has complemented the development of ever-smaller, more sophisticated mobile computing devices. Beginning with the laptop computer and continuing with devices such as the personal digital assistant (PDA) and the smartphone, a user is able to access vast amounts of information over the Internet or other data communications network using sophisticated devices that are small enough be held, carried, or even worn like an article of clothing by the user.
A persistent obstacle, however, is that a mobile computing device user seeking access to a data communications network such as the Internet typically must first find a connection point such as a wired local area network or a WiFi hotspot to wirelessly connect to in order to access the data communications network. Even with the advent of so-called broadband cards—wireless network adapters for laptops, PDAs and cellphones that provide cellular data transmission—a user still needs to locate a connection point to access the data communications network. Without an adequate signaling channel, the user is still not able to gain access to the network.
One approach to the problem is to cache an expanded amount of data content, such as multiple Web pages, while the user is connected to the Internet or other data communications network. The intent of the approach is to allow a user, after the wireless connection is interrupted due to the loss or attenuation of the wireless signal, to still be able to navigate through the cached data content as though the user were connected to the network. However, the typical mobile computing device, especially a hand-held device, has limited data caching capabilities. Because it cannot be known beforehand which of a wide array of data content the user is likely to access next during an on-line session, the usefulness of this approach is correspondingly limited.
Accordingly, there is a need for a mechanism by which the user of a mobile computing device can access data content after a wireless connection to a data communications network has been interrupted. More particularly, there is a need for an effective and efficient mechanism whereby a user who is in the midst of an on-line session can retrieve additional information as though the user were still network connected even though a previously-established wireless connection has been interrupted.